Digitised Documents from the Strahov Library

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In 2019, the library of the Royal Canonry of Premonstratensians at Strahov provided access to 36 modern manuscripts and one early printed book – the Chronicle of Bohemia by Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini (Pope Pius II), which was translated and in 1510 printed by Mikuláš Konáč of Hodíštkov (shelf mark DR IV 10). The digitised manuscripts are deposited under shelf marks DA I–DA III and come from between the 17the and 19th centuries. They are varied in their content as well, including e.g. a set of liturgical manuscripts of Premonstratensian provenance, some acquired as late as in the 19th century in the area of present-day Germany; scientific treatises in the fields of natural sciences and the humanities (e.g. by the geologist Jan Tadeáš Antonín Peithner of Lichtenfels and the art historian Jan Jakub Quirin Jahn); a binder’s volume of letters by Jesuit missionaries and their copies (DA II 15); poems and short stories; a copy of works of music by the Cistercian Johann Georg Vogt (DA II 20); an illuminated Kunst-Buch der Pferde (DA II 22); copies of theological works and lectures coming from the Prague Archiepiscopal Seminary; records of lectures and sermons given by Bernard Bolzano in 1808–1818; copies of various prints and other texts.

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The set of 109 digitised maps comes from the 18th and 19th centuries. Individual maps and plans cover various parts of Europe, especially Italy, Austria, Hungary, East-Central Europe (Galicia, Poland and Russia) and the lands of the Balkan peninsula. They include geographical as well as special (railway, postal etc.) maps.

The recently digitised medieval manuscripts from the National Library are relatively varied in their content. Apart from the most common theological and preaching texts and liturgical codices, they also comprise ancient literature (VIII H 24), rhetorical (VIII H 22), medical (VIII H 34), historiographical (XIII D 7) or hagiographical (XIV E 8) texts. In the Middle Ages, codices XIII D 7 and XIII F 12 formed part of the library of Charles College of the Prague university. They are included in its earliest library inventory. The manuscripts likewise come from other large medieval institutional libraries: the Augustinian monastery in Třeboň and the Cistercian monastery in Zlatá Koruna. Czech-language manuscripts are represented by three volumes of the Bible, illuminated manuscripts mainly by the prayer book VI G 24.

The first digitised document from the collections of the Museum of the Vysočina Region in Havlíčkův Brod is an evangelical postil by Martin Philadelphus Zámrský, which was printed in Leipzig in 1602. The incompletely preserved early printed book was also restored before the digitisation.

The Museum of the Brno Region Muzeum has provided access to another four medieval manuscripts from the library of the Benedictine monastery in Rajhrad in 2015. The missals R 397 and R 398 as well as the exegesis of the New Testament and Biblical prologues R 18 were created in the second half of the 14th century, the Czech New Testament complemented by other texts R 390 was written in the first half of the 15th century. With the exception of the New Testament, all the manuscripts are decorated to varying degrees.

More than four dozen digitised medieval manuscripts can be subdivided into several smaller thematically homogeneous groups. The first includes Czech-language Biblical manuscripts (six volumes under the shelf mark XVII, all from the 15th century). Liturgical manuscripts are represented by codices from St George’s Benedictine Monastery at Prague Castle (the manuscript XII D 11 was written upon the order of the abbess Kunigunde at the beginning of the 14th century; others comprise e.g. XII E 1, XIII C 1b, XIV D 21), but also from other monasteries (XIII C 11 from the Convent of the Poor Clares in Český Krumlov; Břevnov breviaries VI G 11 and XII A 22). Hagiographic literature is mainly represented by several manuscripts of Legenda Aurea by Jacobus de Voragine (XII D 19, XII E 14 and XIII B 11). Collections of sermons are likewise numerous – both by Czech authors (Tomášek of Strakonice, XII E 7a) and e.g. written on the commission of Czech monasteries (sermons of Bertrand de Turre in the manuscript XII D 6, which was ordered by the Chotěšov provost Petr I.). Most of the other codices contain theological literature, but one can also find works on grammar, law, natural sciences, a collection of liturgical formulae by Pietro della Vigna, etc.

The newly digitised items from the collections of the Music Department of the National Library of the CR comprise 32 manuscripts and printed items. They mostly include handwritten copies of short scores from the collection of Josef Cyril Strachota, composed by W. A. Mozart, V. Pichl, F. X. Pokorný and J. L. Oehlschlägel. A longer manuscript is placed under the shelf mark XVI H 8 – it contains compositions collected by Franz Eduard Tuna, partly his own works. The printed items come from the 16th and 17th centuries and include collections of polyphonic compositions.

The National Medical Library, Prague, has made one manuscript and three early printed books or their binder’s volumes from its collections accessible. The manuscript T 361, written in the 17th/18th centuries, contains a copy of an unpreserved printed book Equine Medicine (Koňská lékařství). All printed books are written in German. Two binder’s volumes include medical works printed in northern Poland and Germany in the 17th century; the last volume was printed in Brno in 1776.

The Slavonic Library has digitised several manuscripts and printed books from the 16th–18th centuries varied in both their language and content. Besides Old Church Slavonic, the languages include Polish, Croatian and Italian. One can find not only theological texts but also poems or an accounting book of an unknown Jew from Dubrovnik.

The Research Library in Olomouc has enriched its group of digitised manuscripts by another two. They were both made in the second half of the 15th century: the Cistercian missal M II 82 is written on parchment and decorated with drawn figural and ornamental initials; the New Testament M I 240 is made of paper.

The Town Museum and Gallery Polička digitised in 2015 the hymnal Evangelical Spiritual Songs, printed in the printing house of the Unity of the Brethren in Ivančice in 1572. Apart from its textual content, the book is also interesting for its illuminations: the vacant space of some folios has been complemented by scenes with figures, flowers or floral motifs; bigger initials and decorative page frames are coloured and gilded.

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Manuscriptorium Project

The Manuscriptorium project is creating a virtual research environment providing access to all existing digital documents in the sphere of historic book resources (manuscripts, incunabula, early printed books, maps, charters and other types of documents). These historical resources, otherwise scattered in various digital libraries around the world, are now available under a single digital library interface.